Different terminology and measuring methods make data analysis a challenge anywhere. In Austria, the federal government wants to make that easier. That’s why they’ve undertaken a project to establish a common “data language.” Already, the Austrian federal government has developed standard data descriptions that must be used by states, ministries and agencies that contribute to the country’s open data Web portal. These common descriptions — known as metadata — are crucial to the usability of the data, providing details like what subjects the data covers, the language in which it’s written and how it was collected. While the concept may seem obvious, it’s not easy to get multiple data contributors to agree to common terms. With the federal standards now in place, Austria is working on standardization agreements with Germany and Switzerland, which would make the Austrian portal a single source for comparable government data from all three nations.